The Board of Trustees of Hyde Leadership Charter School is a dedicated and hard-working group which is committed to the delivery of a high-quality education for our students and their families.

Herbert Fixler, Board Chair

Herbert Fixler, a trusts and estates attorney in Cozen O’Connor’s Private Client Services Group, is resident in the firm’s midtown New York office. He concentrates his practice in the fields of estate planning and administration, providing services to a wide range of clients including family business owners. Mr. Fixler designs and implements plans for the inter-generational transfer of family wealth—including family business interests—the reduction of gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes, estate liquidity needs, and charitable gifts and bequests. He also supervises the administration of estates including charitable and other trusts.

In the family business arena, Mr. Fixler advises owners of businesses and commercial real estate on ownership structures, owners’ agreements, compensation arrangements and business succession. He is a board member of Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprises, a non-profit organization comprised of attorneys throughout the United States.

Mr. Fixler received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Villanova University and his J.D. from the Washington College of Law of the American University where he served as Director of the Legal Aid Society. Upon graduation from law school, he served as a VISTA volunteer ad then entered private practice in New York.

Mr. Fixler is also a semi-professional fine art photographer whose work is frequently exhibited and is included in numerous private and corporate collections. He is also a board member of Photography and Imaging, an organization of individuals dedicated to the photographic arts.

Maureen Singer

Maureen Singer is a Director at Alinda Capital Partners, one of the world’s largest and most experienced infrastructure investment firms. As a Director with the firm, Maureen specializes in portfolio management and energy infrastructure investing, working to ensure that clients receive top-tier service and long-term capital gains. Prior to her work with Alinda Capital Partners, Maureen worked as an investment manager with GE Capital, as well as a consultant with PwC.

Maureen is a graduate of Bowdoin College, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics. Additionally, she has a Masters in Business Administration from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. In addition to her success in the classroom, Maureen has a history of excellence in athletics; as an undergraduate student, Maureen was a five-time All-American Diver on the Bowdoin College Women’s Swimming and Diving Team.

Finally, Maureen has a long history of supporting children’s education in the United States and abroad. Earlier in her career, Maureen spent a summer with Global Vision International teaching English to children in an orphanage in Nepal. She also served on the Brooklyn Charter School Board of Trustees, and the Hyde Leadership Charter School Associate Board, prior to joining the Hyde Leadership Charter School Board of Trustees in 2015.

Deborah Dumont

Deborah Dumont, is an educational consultant with a focus on progressive education, educational reform and advocacy, with a special interest in children at risk. Ms. Dumont’s 35-year career has led to leadership positions in a broad range of educational organizations, including Head of School, Co-founder of Hawkins Centers of Learning, an educational think-tank, and Videatives, a teacher education company. She held executive positions at Educate and Aramark Work/Life Partnerships, both multi-national education companies. Ms. Dumont currently leads a research and consulting practice focused on early education, school reform, and systems thinking.

Ms. Dumont has published in education journals on topics ranging from professional development models and attachment theory in adolescent education to how school building design impacts learning. In October 2009, she was elected as a trustee of the Hyde Leadership Charter School in the Bronx.

Richard Romanoff

Richard Romanoff is the founder of Nebraskaland and Omni Food Sales, industry-leading businesses located in Hunts Point. His family has been in the meat industry for four generations. Over time, Nebraskaland has grown to become the largest meat distributor based in New York, and Omni Food Sales, a food brokerage organization, represents over $300 million in sales each year.

Richard is a dedicated philanthropist, and his organizations proudly sponsor many charitable organizations, including the Bronx Overall Development Corporation and City Harvest. Richard has experience serving on the Advisory Boards of New York Presbyterian’s Allen Hospital and as a Board Member and Vice President of the Tri-State Law Enforcement Foundation’s Honorary Deputy Commissioners. As a Hyde Board Trustee, Richard is eager to further support the Hunts Point community and local youth. Richard graduated from the University of Miami in Florida with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Accounting.

Susan Engel

Susan Engel has maintained a tradition of excellence throughout her leadership roles she in various preeminent businesses. She was the CEO of Portero Luxury, an e-commerce company based in New York; the Chairperson and CEO of Lenox Group Inc., a leading company in the collectibles, gift and ornamental industries; and the President/CEO of the ‘Champion Athletic’ division of Sara Lee Corp., the world-renowned consumer goods company formerly based in Illinois.

Susan graduated from Harvard Business School, and then spent 14 years at Booz & Co. (formerly Booz, Allen, and Hamilton) as a corporate strategist and restructurer. She also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell University, and then joined J.C. Penney Company Inc., where she worked in its Human Resources and Marketing departments.

Susan’s public board experience is quite extensive. She has served as a Director on the Boards of 10 public and private companies, including Wells Fargo, Lenox Group LLC, Portero, Inc., and Supervalu Inc. Susan currently volunteers with Adopt-a-Classroom and also volunteered on various boards including Chair/President of Guthrie Theater, a secretary/executive committee member of St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and a board member of the Volunteer Consulting Group.

Herb Kaplan

Herbert M. Kaplan is a former Hyde parent. Before retiring in 2013, Mr. Kaplan was Senior Director of Development at ORT America, where he was responsible for developing and implementing national fundraising strategies for the organization’s Annual Campaign. Prior to that, Mr. Kaplan had a career in marketing, with responsibilities encompassing account management, sales, product management, market research and strategic planning. Mr. Kaplan received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and MBA from Harvard Business School. He brings valuable fundraising experience to the Hyde Leadership Charter School board.

Jeanette Melendez

Jeanette Melendez holds a leadership role as the Associate Vice President Senior Administrator for Health Center Operations at Urban Health Plan. In this role, Ms. Melendez is responsible for supporting the work of six site directors and seven health centers throughout the Bronx, including one located in the Hunts Point community. The centers consist of over 140 associates and the multiple health and wellness services they provide. In her work, Ms. Melendez assists in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of daily functions and services provided in the centers, ensuring efficiency and supporting the communities’ needs.

Ms. Melendez is a graduate of the College of New Rochelle and has received certificates in nonprofit management from both the Hispanic Leadership Institute and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health. She is a proud Hyde Leadership Charter School parent since the school’s founding in 2006, and she is the mother of two Hyde students – one in Hyde Middle School and one in Hyde High School.

Oz Hanley

Vincent P. Hanley Jr. (“Oz”) is a founding attorney and senior partner at Hanley & Zanetti P.C., a private practice law firm providing legal counsel to real estate organizations, including housing cooperatives, condo associations, and other residential and commercial real estate groups. With over 40 years of experience working in both civil practice at The Legal Aid Society and in private practice, Mr. Hanley provides a wealth of counsel on real estate laws, compliance issues, and corporate documentation questions.

Mr. Hanley is also a faithful advocate for education. As the parent of a Hyde graduate – his son graduated from the Hyde School in Woodstock, CT, where he devotes his time annually to help with facilitation of seminars and workshops – he firmly believes in the value of Hyde’s Family-Based Character Education program. In addition to his work on the Hyde Board of Trustees, Mr. Hanley has diligently served on the Board of Trustees for the Washington Market School in Tribeca for over 20 years, including the last 14 years as its chairman.

As an undergraduate, he earned a B.A. in English at Boston College, before receiving a J.D. degree from Fordham University Law School.

Ruth Jarmul

Prior to her retirement, Ruth Jarmul was the Vice President of Administration of the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF), a non-profit organization that has provided nearly $200 million in funds for stem cell research to cure the most significant diseases of our time. Her responsibilities at NYSCF included operations, development, marketing and communications, human resources, and strategic planning. She was responsible for oversight of foundation grants, accounting for more than half of NYSCF’s annual budget, as well as relationships with NYSCF’s high impact donors and Board of Trustees. Earlier in her career, Ruth was a senior executive in the media business, including time working with Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, as well as consulting for the Mitchell Madison Group and Quantum Media.

Ruth believes that “education is the key to the future” and that Hyde’s distinct model of working with students holistically with a character and family-based approach is critical. Ruth continues to use her wealth of experience to support the school’s development efforts and share its unique message. In addition to her work with Hyde, Ruth serves on the Board of the Alliance for Middle East Peace. Ruth is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Business School and is the proud mother of three children and three grandchildren.

Tony Stoupas

Tony Stoupas is the Chief Information Officer of Moody’s, responsible for all aspects of the company’s global technology strategy and operations. Since joining Moody’s in early 2010, he has been driving an effort to dramatically improve the organization’s IT capacities to deliver business value while building a robust and reliable infrastructure. In addition, and in conjunction with Moody’s key business stakeholders, Tony has spearheaded an effort to jointly develop and implement a 5-year Business and IT Roadmap.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Tony was a Managing Director at UBS, and he has held leadership roles with Mellon Financial Corporation, Computer Sciences Corporation, and IBM Australia. Tony is an international IT executive with over thirty years of experience in service delivery, outsourcing, and operations, and he has a proven record of delivering large scale business and organizational change. Tony holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from Monash University in Australia.

Finally, Tony brings a valuable perspective to the Hyde Board of Trustees as a Hyde-Woodstock alumni parent and with experience working with the Hyde Foundation. Tony is excited to be a part of the Hyde Leadership Charter School community in the South Bronx, and he looks forward to support of the mission of the school.

Chavon Sutton

Chavon has over 10 years of experience in banking and investment management. Prior to joining the Office of the New York City Comptroller as Director, Diversity & Inclusion in the Bureau of Asset Management, she spent several years at J.P. Morgan as a Vice President in the firm’s Asset and Wealth Management division, where she managed client relationships consisting of high-and ultra-high net worth individuals, endowments, and foundations, totaling approximately $150 million in investable assets.

A native of Newark, NJ, Chavon began her finance career as a Credit Analyst covering Financial Institutions at Bank of America and went on to work as a Corporate Banker at RBC Capital Markets. She is also an accomplished journalist, having written articles about personal finance, global markets, and economics for such prestigious publications as Forbes.com, Reuters News America, and CNNMoney.com.

Chavon holds an M.B.A. in Finance from the NYU Stern School of Business, a Masters in Journalism from NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, with an Advanced Certificate in Business and Economic Reporting, and a B.A. (Cum Laude) from the University of Pennsylvania. A classically-trained soprano, Chavon has a passion for and supports the arts through her involvement in the Black TV & Film Collective, as well as other arts organizations around New York City.

Join Our Board

Hyde is seeking dedicated professionals to serve on our Board of Trustees. The Hyde Board of Trustees is comprised of diverse, committed individuals who give back to children and families in New York City through their gifts, talents, and resources. They oversee the operations of the school at its highest level and raise funds to support the students, families, and teachers at Hyde Leadership Charter School.